About two weeks, maybe three weeks ago, my 4870X2 started crashing my computer. After one 'major' crash, the computer just simply wouldnt boot. UHOH! I thought maybe I fried something, maybe the card broke the PCIE slot, or maybe my old cheap BioStar motherboard gave up. I tried the card on three different rigs, and still nothing.

I than took the card to some proffessionals, who almost charged be $50 for a system diagnostic. They told me, "We have reaon to believe it is your videocard. We stripped the whole thing down, tried each and every single part individually, and only the video card had error".

Anyways, I replied with "Your telling me, I need to pay you $50, just to have you tell me that my $xxx [included their shop price] video card is toast? I know you put in over 40+ hours, but damn..." They felt bad, and since I do business with them a little more than average, they gave me deal.

As of right now, my computer is still in their shop, but I took the video card. They told me "You do anything and everything you can to get this working, eh champ" [<-- over exagerated sentance]

I than went home, and was thinking, do I sell it? Put the stock cooler on and attempt an RMA? Or what? I than saw Braineaters "die 680i die" thread and in clicked! Mr. 4870X2, meet Louisville Slugger. Before I made sycg a crazy dicission I posted a thread here on HWC seeking out some final opinions etc. I got a reply about the "Baking method". I have read this before, but totally forgot. Well, this card is garbage right now, what harm does sticking it in the oven do?

(For those who have not heard of the baking method. Its where you strip the video card 'naked' and place it in an oven at the correct heat. What this does is re-melt the solder, which flows into any little cracks or fissure - I think )

Picture1: Pre-baking.

Picture 2: Different Angle

Picture 3: Another Angle

Picture 4: Angle Shot

Picture 5: Bottom View w/ Backplate (No retention brackets)

Picture 6: Complete Shot of both units - naked and dirty... with gunk

Picture 7: Blury Shot of the Naked Video Card

Picture 8: Zoom in on GPUs

Picture 9: Dirst Heat Sink

Picture 10: All Cleaned and Ready to go [please note I forgot to remove some plastic parts - and yes, they went into the oven]